xsl-list
[Top] [All Lists]

RE: apache fop - formating question

2002-09-17 14:25:48
Hey Bryan,

At 04:17 AM 9/17/2002, you wrote:
Damn I can't even get it to flow by hand!

:->

agreed it would be so awful a process it would not be worth
contemplating in svg although certainly doable in theory as so many
things are, however I also got the impression that he was using FOP for
which a float would not be the solution. (I lost his original post as
well but I think somewhere back in the thread FOP was mentioned)

Yes, you're right, the context was FOP. I'm afraid, however, that this is a case where the XSL Recommendation describes the correct solution: to perform the wrapping in the formatter, not an earlier transformation phase (at any rate not there with a tool like XSLT that isn't designed for the task). If the formatter of choice doesn't do it, one is left with options that are so poor as to be (in all likelihood) not worth the trouble.

I like theory as much as anyone; but if you think "doable in theory" and "doable" are the same thing (and of course I can see you don't :-) -- you need to work on your theory!

As there was some lack of clarity I hope to hear that in fact what he
wants is the easier

This is my great text here that I want to use
This is my picture picture picturewant to use
This is my picture picture picturewant to use
This is my picture picture picturewant to use
This is my picture picture picturewant to use
This is my great text here that I want to use

Which can be done using svg.

Yes, that's easier, and yes, in helping others on the list we're all in the position of making inferences and guesses about what a person really "means to say". Yet in this case the guess is educated not only by the original post, but also by the fact that wrapping text around a floating graphic is a common requirement in formatting, whereas the other possibilities (blocking part of the text from view by laying a picture over it; writing the text in a spiral around it) are rather ... uncommon.

I hope I didn't sound too critical of your post, Bryan. I'm just trying to protect the technologies by assessing what expectations are realistic. Unrealistic expectations, and the following let-down when promises go unfulfilled, really aren't helpful to any of us, are they?

Cheers,
Wendell


======================================================================
Wendell Piez                            
mailto:wapiez(_at_)mulberrytech(_dot_)com
Mulberry Technologies, Inc.                http://www.mulberrytech.com
17 West Jefferson Street                    Direct Phone: 301/315-9635
Suite 207                                          Phone: 301/315-9631
Rockville, MD  20850                                 Fax: 301/315-8285
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Mulberry Technologies: A Consultancy Specializing in SGML and XML
======================================================================


XSL-List info and archive:  http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list